


Competition for your affections

by Craftybadger1234



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Based on a Tumblr Post, Competition, Dating, Don't copy to another site, Humor, M/M, Oblivious Draco Malfoy, Oblivious Harry Potter, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-05-07 04:56:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19202326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Craftybadger1234/pseuds/Craftybadger1234
Summary: I can't remember the exact story idea, but it was something like -Two boys are fighting for the affections of a girl, but then she realises she's ace and gets a pet instead. And then the two boys realise they were jealously fighting because they like each other.Rating is for language.





	Competition for your affections

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to CleopatraIsMyName for all the little changes! I feel like for something so small, I needed a lot of hand holding. You're awesome, as usual!
> 
> This moves fast because it's meant to be a short, lighthearted thing. I have no plans to continue it.

“Wow! Did you see Robards’ new secretary?” Harry whispered loudly as he sat at his desk. The other Auror trainees, with no subtlety whatsoever, all looked at the desk outside the Head Auror’s office. Thankfully, the pretty young woman was focused on her paperwork, and didn’t notice.

Lisa Turpin winked at Harry and said, “You guys missed her arrival while you were on mission with the Aurors. Her name’s Jackie - Jacqueline - but she goes by Jackie. She graduated from Hogwarts a year ago, not sure which house -”

Susan Bones piped up from her desk, “She was a Hufflepuff.”

“Ah yes,” Lisa continued. “Anyway, she spent a year in Unspeakable training. But decided she wanted this instead.”

“You are a veritable font of information,” Malfoy said dryly. 

Lisa shrugged, “I was curious. Also, she’s not a lesbian so…” Pulled a funny face, then grinned.

“So I call dibs,” Harry said quickly. Neville and Terry, both in committed relationships, tuned them out after that. Susan watched the exchange with glee.

Malfoy scowled at him. “You can’t call dibs on a person.”

The usual rush of annoyance hit Harry, making him frown. “I can and I just did. I’m asking her out.”

“Well, so am I!”

Harry wanted to tear his hair out. Why did Malfoy have to make everything so fucking difficult? “You can’t ask her out, I just said _I_ was asking her out!”

“You can’t tell me what to do! And maybe she doesn’t want you!”

“Of course she wants me! I’m Harry Potter. And I’m an excellent boyfriend!”

“You can’t even dress yourself properly!”

Harry frowned down at his misbuttoned uniform. His fingers fumbled to fix it. “You’re just jealous because I’m Harry Potter while you’re nothing but a -”

His words cut off, but everyone could fill in the rest. Guilt flooded Harry, and instantly he knew he’d taken it too far. Malfoy’s face froze while Harry’s stomach clenched uncomfortably. 

Malfoy cleared his throat and neatened a stack of parchments on his desk. “Be that as it may,” he said in quiet, clipped tones, “it doesn’t hurt to ask.”

The group of trainees turned back to their paperwork, and Harry did the same. He felt a little guilty about saying something cruel to Malfoy, who was trying to be a better person. But everything that git did annoyed the shit out of Harry and the thought of him trying to steal away the girl Harry wanted set his blood boiling.

As they headed to the lifts that evening, Harry introduced himself to Jackie and got the usual wide-eyed recognition he was accustomed to. Point in his favor.

But the next morning, Malfoy began his attack as well. He brought in a bouquet of vivid red flowers for Jackie. Peonies, Harry later discovered. If someone had asked, Harry would have said he didn’t have a favorite flower, but fuck if the intoxicating scent didn’t pull at something deep in his subconscious. He wondered distantly if his mother used peonies in her perfume, but decided he was absolutely ridiculous and there was no way to either verify that or possibly remember that from his infancy.

Fine, Harry could bring flowers, too. And he _did_ know that Malfoy had a favorite flower, so he brought Jackie rare black orchids just to needle him. So okay, they made Jackie sneeze and she had to give them to Susan and it was possible Malfoy had one the first round.

But Harry would make up for it on a date. Malfoy had a severely limited budget since the Ministry seized some assets and froze others. Until that mess cleared, he lived off an allowance, and a pitiful one at that. Harry could arrange for much nicer restaurants.

In fact, there was that fancy place off Diagon. _Hibiscus_. Thanks to his celebrity, he managed to get a table, even on such short notice. See how Malfoy liked that! Going to eat at a nice place was twice as exciting, knowing Malfoy could only dream of something so fancy.

Harry picked Jackie up at her flat, and Apparated them to the restaurant. There were several couples milling about in the bar, but the hostess smiled widely as soon as she saw Harry. “Mr Potter, right this way!”

He held his arm out for Jackie with a shy grin, as if he didn’t know his fame got them seated so quickly. He pulled out her chair and sat across from her. Under the small table, their knees bumped lightly, but the feeling was cosy instead of cramped.

“Isn’t it beautiful in here?” Jackie said as she looked around at the pale pink decor. Hibiscus leaves fucking _everywhere_. She smiled at Harry and picked up her menu.

“Yeah, nicer than I thought. Probably nicer than the place Malfoy took you.”

“Draco? Oh well, I suppose. We went to a little Italian bistro near his flat. A sweet little old witch fawned all over him, so excited he was - was on a date.” She gave Harry a tight smile and shrugged sheepishly. 

Right, probably best not to mention one date while on another date. Stupid Malfoy and his charming little bistro. Harry looked the menu over, not really caring what they served. Oh, it turned out every single thing on the menu had hibiscus flowers in it. Weird. 

The waitress returned with a wine menu, but Harry passed it to Jackie. He knew fuck-all about wine and how to pair it with food. Turned out Jackie didn’t drink wine, which was fine because Harry didn’t _need_ wine, except that he _liked_ wine but not enough to know what _kind_ he liked and now there wouldn’t be any wine with dinner because he didn’t want to choose wrongly and mess it all up. Hibiscus tea for everyone, he supposed.

Conversation naturally drifted to their mutual work. Jackie liked the simple work, so different from Unspeakable training, which she couldn’t really talk about. She complained about the previous secretary and the mess he’d made of some important files. Harry grumbled in return about having to share desks with the other Auror trainees, and how Malfoy always seemed to steal Harry’s quills, and _only_ Harry’s quills, probably on purpose.

Jackie told him about her terrace house in Salisbury and the little courtyard behind it with a little garden. Harry mentioned Grimmauld Place and how it still needed some fixing up, but that was hard to manage with his work schedule and even though it had been a gift from his godfather, sometimes he felt guilty because he wasn’t even a proper Black family member, not like Malfoy was but then, he had the Manor _and_ a terrace house in London so he probably didn’t need Grimmauld Place anyway.

Afterwards, Jackie Apparated them to a quiet street near her home. Harry held her hand as they walked the last little bit, and he wondered if Malfoy had gotten to hold her hand. The selfish prick had probably said goodbye outside his stupid little bistro and left her to Apparate on her own. Harry got a promise for a second date the following weekend and resisted the urge to ask if Malfoy had also gotten a second date.

The not knowing was killing him. On Monday, he picked up a tea for himself and Neville as usual, but “accidentally” over sugared Neville’s so he was “forced” to give it to the only person in the office that drank simple syrup masquerading as tea. 

“I accidentally ruined Nev’s tea, so I guess you can drink it so it doesn’t go to waste.” Harry handed over the cup, which Malfoy took gingerly. “I didn’t poison it. It’s just got too much sugar.”

Malfoy took a hesitant sip with a soft moan, “Mm… just right. I guess your incompetence paid off in this instance.” He set the cup on his desk and ignored Harry, even though Harry was sitting right across from him and that was rude when Harry just brought him tea. Even if it was actually someone else’s tea first.

“How was your date?”

“Hm?” Malfoy asked. Slowly he looked up from his desk, as though he was actually working and not just annoying Harry on purpose. “Oh. Yes, it was lovely. Italian food, a walk along the river. You?”

A walk along the river sounded romantic, more romantic than the walk from the Apparition point to Jackie’s flat. Harry would have to step up his game. “Yeah, we had a nice time too. We went to Hibiscus.” He paused for a moment to savour the brief flare of jealousy on Malfoy’s face. “Everything on the menu had hibiscus flowers in it.”

“How nice,” Malfoy bit out. “And are you going on a second date?”

“We are,” Harry grinned. “Next weekend. You?”

“Same.”

Harry didn’t want to lose the sudden staring contest, but Neville nudged his arm, asking about some evidence Harry still had to file. Work sucked all the joy out of life. And it was all made worse with no morning tea, since he’d given his cup to Neville. With a sigh, Harry got back to work, knowing in his heart that Malfoy would have looked away first.

Throughout the week, Harry made time to chat with Jackie each day. By Friday, he was no longer sure he wanted to date her. There wasn’t anything wrong with her, they just didn’t have much in common. He didn’t see it going much beyond a light friendship.

But it was a matter of pride now. If he backed out too soon, it would seem like he’d ceded the game to Malfoy and that was bullshit. Malfoy certainly didn’t deserve to win the title of better boyfriend. Harry had to string her along enough that she dropped Malfoy, but not so much that she got attached to Harry and it broke her heart when they split up. That could make the work environment seriously awkward.

On Saturday, he picked up Jackie for a date to the cinema. Watching _Lucky Numbers_ ended up being slightly awkward because Harry laughed a lot, while Jackie didn’t laugh at all. This reinforced his thought they didn’t really belong together, but he happily agreed to a cup of tea at her place anyway.

“Nice place you’ve got,” Harry said with a glance around. Everything sparkled in its proper place. Either she was a neater housekeeper than he was, or she had cleaned up special in anticipation of inviting him in.

Or inviting Malfoy in yesterday.

“Thank you! My sister finishes her seventh year at Hogwarts this June and will likely be joining me here. I’ve been trying to get rid of things, so it doesn’t look as cluttered as it did a month ago! Here you go.” She handed him a mug of tea and sat next to him on the sofa.

He took a cautious sip, and hummed in appreciation. “So… how was your date with Malfoy yesterday?”

Jackie gave him a bewildered smile. “Erm… it was nice. We went dancing.”

Probably some posh, stiff kind of ballroom dancing. How boring. Even if she didn’t like the film they’d seen tonight, surely it fared better than having to count steps in a ballroom surrounded by doddering old people. Unless they’d gone to a club. Malfoy seemed rather… lithe… He was probably really good with those annoying beats that gave Harry a headache. Jumping around under flashing lights. Bumping their bodies together. Getting hot and sweaty.

Well, Harry had skills too and he knew, he _knew_ he had to be a better kisser than Malfoy. And he could prove it to Jackie.

He set his mug on the side table and slid his arm along the sofa, around Jackie’s shoulders. “I don’t really want to talk about Malfoy.”

“You’re the one that brought him up,” she said, her lips pressing together tightly in a smile. “Again.”

He scooted closer to her on the sofa. “I can think of something a little more fun than talking…” He leaned in slowly, in case she wanted to back away.

But she tilted her head, her eyes darting down to his lips, then she leaned in to meet him. Her lips parted and Harry swept in, exploring the heat of her mouth. This, at least, he knew he could excel at. His hand landed on her thigh, caressing gently. Malfoy probably didn’t kiss her like this. Probably some stupid rules about courtship his pureblood upbringing demanded.

And anyway, he probably wasn’t any good at kissing, with his thin lips. Sure, they looked soft, like he had some fancy lip balm, but that was all he had going for him. Although his hair was nice, too. Long enough to bury one’s hands in, maybe give a light tug, or a hard tug to tilt his head way back so someone could really - 

“Ow! Harry! You’re hurting me!” 

Harry came back to himself suddenly, his hands buried in Jackie’s hair, the other gripping her thigh tightly. He pulled away, babbling, “Oh fuck, Jackie! I’m so sorry! I was - wasn’t - I’m so sorry!”

“It’s fine,” she laughed nervously, smoothing her hair and then her robes. She shot to her feet, and Harry did the same. “I think,” she said slowly, “I kind of have an early morning tomorrow. I’m catching up with an old friend. So I think maybe you should go now?”

“Right, yes. I’m sorry… please…” He pressed his lips together, because really there was nothing left to say. “I’m sorry. I’ll just go now.”

She nodded and stepped out of the way so he could approach the floo. He noticed she put the sofa between the two of them so he couldn’t even hug her goodbye. 

“I’ll just, erm… see you at work on Monday?”

“Yes, of course.” She smiled, kindly enough for Harry to know he hadn’t really hurt her.

“Goodnight, Jackie.”

“Goodnight, Harry.”

The Grimmauld Place floo didn’t connect from here, so he probably should have Apparated home. But he already had the powder in hand and he felt stupid putting it back, so he called out, “Diagon Alley,” instead.

He walked to Fortesque’s Ice Cream and sat morosely eating his cup of Everything ice cream, packed with more fillers than ice cream. A dark shadow crossed his table.

“I thought you had a date tonight.”

“Malfoy,” Harry groaned. Of course, _of course_ he’d see that stupid git when he felt the most humiliated. And then Malfoy sat down without even being invited!

“Not go well?” the prat grinned. He licked at his ice cream cone, some sort of concoction made of strawberries and chocolate that Malfoy liked to get when he got O’s or E’s on a test during training. What had him in such a good mood? Had he made more progress than Harry?

Fuck if Harry would admit defeat now! “It went fine. Dinner, cinema. But she has an early day tomorrow, so I went home early.”

Malfoy snorted and Harry resisted the urge to punch that smug look off his face. “Right but you only get Everything ice cream when you’re having a shit day so forgive me for not believing you.” He stood and licked at his ice cream again. “I guess that means Jackie’s made her choice, wouldn’t you say?”

“This isn’t over, Malfoy!”

“Mm, but I didn’t get kicked out, now did I?” He laughed loudly and walked away, leaving Harry fuming at the table alone.

Harry’s bad mood stuck with him until he got to work on Monday. He couldn’t help glancing at Jackie’s desk, and wondered why Lisa and Susan had gathered there. The three witches were smiling and laughing, but hopefully not at Harry’s folly over the weekend. Maybe it was Malfoy’s folly. Hopes raised, Harry walked over with a smile.

“Happy Monday, everyone,” he said to the three witches.

Jackie shoved a few pictures of a dog at him. “Oh Harry, look! Remember I told you I had to meet a friend yesterday?”

Harry glared at Malfoy over his shoulder and couldn’t resist sticking his tongue out at him. See, he wanted to shout, the “early day” thing _wasn’t_ a lie to get rid of Harry. Getting rid of Harry was only a coincidence. Susan elbowed him, bringing his attention back to Jackie.

“Yeah, so Daniella’s dog had puppies recently and she brought me one! These are from about two weeks ago, so she’s a little bigger now but… Isn’t she so sweet?”

Harry looked at the photos in his hand, of a fluffy puppy rolling and barking. “Aww, so adorable!”

“Her name’s Trixie, and she’s the sweetest thing! It was so hard to come into work this morning! But I can check in on her during lunch. I just can’t believe it! She slept snuggled up with me last night and it was just the best thing!”

“She’s so fluffy! What kind of dog is she?”

“Mostly husky. Some other things too… the father is kind of a mixed bag so Daniella wasn’t exactly sure.”

“Well that’s great, Jackie. I’m so happy for you.”

“Me too,” she laughed, taking the pictures back. She looked through them again with a happy sigh.

Lisa sighed as well, “I guess it’s time to get back to work. All that paperwork won’t file itself.”

Harry looked over Jackie’s shoulder at the photos of Trixie, to give Susan and Lisa time to move away. “Listen Jackie… about Saturday…”

“Really, Harry, it’s okay. You got a little carried away and -”

“Let me make it up to you,” he interrupted, before she could finish her thought. “I was distracted and… just give me another chance. Maybe this weekend?”

“I appreciate the thought. And you’re a really nice guy and all but…” She looked down at the photos. “Trixie’s just a puppy still, and she’s going to need a lot of attention.”

“Right, of course. I mean… I could come to yours? Maybe bring lunch or something?”

“Erm…” Jackie propped the pictures against her quill cup and tapped the desk nervously. “See… the thing is, Harry… I don’t think things are going to work between us.”

Fuck. Damn it! _Fuck_! “Yeah… that’s fine. I get it. I mean if you’re into Malfoy, that’s fine.”

“Actually, I just don’t think I’m ready for a relationship. I’ve got Trixie right now, and my sister is moving in with me soon. I just don’t have time for a - a boyfriend right now?” She bit her lip and gave him a hesitant smile.

“Yeah, okay.” Harry huffed a sigh. “Yeah. But we can still be friends, right? You’ll still join us for the occasional party? Pub night?”

Her smile widened, “Oh of course! I’d love to stay friends. Just friends.” She nodded and pointed at her desk. “Erm, so... work is calling you know, so…”

Harry walked back to his desk, not sure what to make of his inner turmoil. On the one hand he was glad he didn’t have to date her anymore. They didn’t click, and things had ended neatly so they could still be friends. On the other hand, he wanted to pound Malfoy into the fucking ground and prove Harry was the better boyfriend. But now the game was over. And with no clear winner. Jackie didn’t want either of them.

He sat at his desk with a defeated plop, accepting a cup of tea from Neville with a grateful smile. Across from him, Malfoy frowned at his parchment, ignoring Harry as usual. Had he been rejected this morning, too? It bugged Harry that there was no way to know which of them Jackie would have chosen, if she were going to choose.

Because Harry was wealthy, and handsome in certain lighting, and famous, and funny. At least he thought he was funny. And okay, so sometimes he got distracted and his imagination ran away from him and he sometimes forgot important things and only remembered weird details like Malfoy only ate peanuts if they were covered in chocolate. But he was still better than Malfoy.

Malfoy used to be a Death Eater! Sure, he’d reformed. But that was probably only on the surface, in this post-war climate. He had a snarky, mean sense of humor and all right, so maybe that was usually directed at himself now, but the potential was there for him to really tear into someone. And he wasn’t even good looking, all washed out like that. Well, okay, some people found that pale, porcelain doll kind of look attractive. All that smooth, creamy skin, and fine, blond hair that hung loose around his face, or tucked behind his ear. Yeah, so that was an improvement over the slicked-back style of their Hogwarts days. But that was the _only_ improvement. Malfoy was still a git.

And oh fuck, had Harry been staring at him this entire time?

Harry cleared his throat and looked down at his parchment, trying to decide what it was even for. “So… Jackie’s decided to fly solo.” His eyes flicked to Malfoy, who visibly relaxed.

“Right, yeah. She told me the same. Trixie and -”

“And her sister. Yeah so…” Harry cleared his throat again and stood abruptly. “I think I need more tea.” He fled the desks, despite Neville calling out that Harry still hadn’t drunk the tea he’d brought.

Harry’s hands shook as he made a cup of tea he didn’t even want. Why did everything Malfoy said have to rile him up so much? And why did he have to sit across from Harry and be so fucking distracting all the time, with that fucking _hair_ and his _mouth_. And oh fuck, he inwardly groaned when Jackie joined him in the break room, humming a little song.

“Hi, Harry. You seem a little flustered. It’s not because - I mean - you’re okay with us, right?” She poured extra milk into her tea and gave it a stir. “I didn’t think you’d be so broken up about it. It was only the two dates.”

“No, it’s fine. We’re fine.” He rubbed at his forehead and fluffed up his hair. Why did this annoy him so much? “It’s - I’m kind of an idiot and Malfoy was - just being his usual self, I suppose.” Except that _wasn’t_ his usual self. He’d seemed so tense, right up until Harry had said Jackie had rejected him too. As if Malfoy assumed Jackie had lied about not wanting to date him. Which was ridiculous because, fine, Harry could admit that maybe Malfoy was a catch in certain circumstances.

“You know what? You two should hang out sometime. Maybe talk through some of these lingering issues.”

“I don’t have _lingering issues_.” Which was mostly true. Malfoy had apologised to different people during their first year of training, and what irked Harry now was - well, it was the way his lips pursed when he focused and his eyes lit up when he got high marks and the way he cooed at babies and that stupid lock of hair that didn’t stay behind his ear and… and any number of annoying things.

“All right, all right,” she held her hands up defensively. “All I’m saying is he mentions you about as often as you mention him and maybe there’s something there that needs exploring.” She gave him a significant look and went back to her desk.

Needs exploring. _Needs exploring_. What did that even mean? It was bad enough having Malfoy in all his classes, and paired up with him for training exercises, and sitting across from him so Harry had to look at him all the time and just wonder what it was like to run his fingers through that fucking _hair_ and wipe that fucking smirk off his _face_ and damn it if he didn’t accidentally pour too much sugar into the tea again.

He stomped off to his desk and slammed the cup down so hard, some tea sloshed over the rim. “Here, you can have this,” Harry said begrudgingly. He settled for a warming charm on his old cup of tea and drank the rest of it down in two large gulps. Not as satisfying as a fresh cup would have been, but fine.

“Thank you, Harry.” Mafoy’s eyes widened. “Potter. Thank you, _Potter_.”

“You called me Harry.” What the fuck was that warm, fuzzy feeling spreading through him?

“Not on purpose, I can assure you.” Malfoy glanced at Neville, sitting next to Harry. “Everyone else calls you Harry, and it just slipped out. Won’t happen again.”

“Fine, _Draco_.” Harry tried to make his voice sound mocking, but it cracked a little, making it more affectionate than he wanted.

A light blush rose on Malfoy’s cheeks, but he kept his eyes on the parchments on his desk. Now that was an interesting reaction. His brain ran away with other things he could say to embarrass the shit out of Malfoy and deepen that blush. But before he could, Robards barked from his office about a suspicious floo call.

Auror Blankenship called Malfoy and Harry to follow her to the lifts. She handed them each a transcript of the call to review before they arrived on site. The lift doors dinged and opened. After Auror Blankenship went in, Malfoy held his hand out toward the lift.

“After you, Potter,” he said curtly.

Harry paused a moment, then entered the lift. The bumpy ride down made them knock into each other and Harry considered for a teeny, tiny moment that maybe he didn’t hate it so much. “You can call me Harry,” he said into the silence.

“What?”

“Harry. You can call me Harry.” He looked down at the parchment in his hand, not really taking in the words. “Everyone else does and - and you’re -” he cleared his throat awkwardly. “And you’re just as good as everyone else.”

“Thank you. Harry. That’s very -”

“I hate to break up a touching moment,” Auror Blankenship interrupted as the lift doors opened on the Atrium. “But kindly remember you’re Aurors and should be addressed as Auror Malfoy and Auror Potter while you are in the Ministry or on Ministry business.”

“Right. Yes. Of course, Auror Blankenship,” Harry stuttered out, glancing at Malfoy.

“Perhaps you gentlemen could settle these things outside the Ministry. After work.”

“Yes,” Malfoy said, clearing his throat. “After work.”

“Maybe,” Harry said slowly, “for dinner?”

Malfoy shrugged, as if it was of no consequence to him. “I can bring a bottle of wine.”

A flash of Harry’s imagination showed them working together in the kitchen, laughing and chopping and stirring and - and maybe Harry could get a chance to gauge Malfoy’s snogging skills firsthand, see what he was like on a date or two. But only for research purposes. 

Then he would know for _certain_ who was the better boyfriend.


End file.
